March 26th, 1973 Ch. Sulhamstead Muffet had a single puppy by Sulhamstead Branwen Myles. This was Sulhamstead Mono (so called because of being a singleton) and the photograph does not do him justice. He was really a good looking hound, if not very big. Mrs. Nagle gave me the photograph because he was the sire of our second litter.
| Sulhamstead Mono |
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At Birmingham, 1973 Sulhamstead Mentor (Mica's brother) and Muffet won the CCs. At WELKS, Mica won the bitch CC and Major the Reserve dog CC. Miss Newton Deakin, Mrs. Nagle's partner with the gundogs, died.
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| Mrs. Nagle with Sulhamstead Mica at WELKS | Ch. Sulhamstead Mica at home at Westerlands |
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Ch. Sulhamstead Mica |
| WELKS, 1973 Mrs. Nagle with Sulhamstead Major, Mary Jane Ellis with Sulhamstead Branwen Myles |  |
Mrs. Nagle judged Irish Wolfhounds at Windsor in 1973 and gave BoB to Susanne Hudson's Ch. Petasmeade Chieftain of Brabyns:
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| Mrs. Nagle taping her comments on the hounds when she judged at Windsor, 1973 | Susanne Hudson, Ch. Petasmeade Chieftain of Brabyns, Mrs. Nagle |
In 1974, Minstrel (Sulhamstead Woodside Finn ex Sulhamstead Mica) won the dog CC at Crufts (Judge: Margaret Harrison) from Junior, and Mica was BoB and gained her championship. Mentor won the Reserve dog CC. Minstrel won BoB at Peterborough and was Reserve in the Hound Group. Mrs. Nagle judged the Hound Group at WELKS, which she gave to Susanne Hudson's Ch. Petasmeade Chieftain of Brabyns.
Sulhamstead Master (Sulhamstead Woodside Finn ex Sulhamstead Cilla and born June 26th, 1973) was Best Puppy at the Club Open Show. He later went to Italy.
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Sulhamstead Master Best Puppy at IWC Open Show, 1974 |
1974 was the year that Sulhamstead Motto made his debut, winning Best Puppy in Show at Windsor, and then the CC and BoB at the WKC. Motto was also runner up in the Daily Express/Spillers Pup of the Year Competition. He was by Woodside Finn ex Moppet, was born August 25th, 1973, and a delightful hound with the most wonderful nature.
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LKA/Club Show, 1974 Mary Jane Ellis with Sulhamstead Motto in Junior D |
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Sulhamstead Motto, aged 14 months,
handled by Mary Jane Ellis |
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Ch. Sulhamstead Motto as an adult, taken at Westerlands |
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Mrs. Nagle with an older Motto at home at Westerlands |
| Mrs. Nagle in the paddock at Westerlands. I'm at the back, cuddling Motto. His kennel mates were galloping around the field but Motto preferred cuddles. |  |
Motto's littersister, Sulhamstead Moya, was also kept.
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| Sulhamstead Moya at home | Sulhamstead Moya being shown by Mrs. Nagle at an Open Show |
In 1974 Mrs. Nagle judged the IWCA Specialty in New Hampshire and caused a major stir when, horrified by the bad tails, she decided to make an issue of this one point and ended up giviing a 14 month old dog the top spot. This was Jill Bregy's Wild Isle Warlock. Mrs. Nagle's comments on this show included "Movement on the whole was good and there were few bad mouths, but I had one nasty shock, the bad tails.....Sickle tails, ring tails, everything but the correct hound tail." and "I most reluctantly dumped some of the best to emphasize the importance of this point."
| Mrs. Nagle at the 1974 American Specialty |  |
In 1975, Minstrel won the dog CC at Crufts for the second time. Motto won five CCs during the year and Sulhamstead Fredina (Woodside Finn ex Sulhamstead Melissa) won four CCs during the year, including one at the LKA, where Sulhamstead Monarch (Sulhamstead Mentor ex Sulhamstead Fredina) and Sulhamstead Ming took the Reserve CCs. Monarch's brother, Monitor, came second in the Puppy Stakes at Windsor.
| Sulhamstead Minstrel, handled by Mary Jane Ellis, going BoB at Windsor, 1975, with judge Ruth Jenkins. |
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Sulhamstead Monitor at Windsor Show
with Mary Jane Ellis He later became a USA Champion |
The occasion of Mrs. Nagle's having been Chairman of the Irish Wolfhound Club for twenty years was marked by a special presentation at the AGM:
On the 1st January, 1976, Sulhamstead Ming had a litter by Ch. Sulhamstead Motto, from which came Mira, Medley, Mandarin and Magnet.
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| Sulhamstead Medley | Sulhamstead Magnet |
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| Sulhamstead Mandarin | |
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| Sulhamstead Mira | |
Also in 1976 Mrs. Nagle, who had been becoming ever more unhappy about the way things were going in the U.K., not just in dogs but in every way, decided to spend most of her time in America, and took with her eight of her wolfhounds, including Minstrel, Monitor, Ming and Mint. Sulhamstead Master went to Italy. Sadly, in 1977 Monitor died in the U.S.A. and Monarch died in England from torsion.
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| Sulhamstead Monitor | Sulhamstead Monitor handled by Mrs. Nagle |
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Sulhamstead Monarch handled by Mary Jane Ellis |
Mrs. Nagle felt very strongly that all dogs should be capable of doing the job for which they were intended, even if it were no longer possible (as with the wolfhounds) for them to do so. Her wolfhounds were particularly noted for superb hindquarters, what she called the powerhouse of the galloping hounds, and for their uniformity of type.
She generally kept a dog and a bitch from each litter but she did not breed a great deal. When she did an outcross, she preferred to take in a puppy from a litter by one of her studs to an outside bitch. This was for preference a male which she could mate back to her own bitches, because she felt this was the way to lose the least and gain the most. She believed the bitch was the greatest force for the litter, and this despite dogs such as Max, who she commented was able to uplift every bitch he was mated to. At any rate, this policy certainly worked well for her, bringing her such notable sires as Sulhamstead Branwen Myles and Sulhamstead Woodside Finn. She said that she never minded taking what was left in a litter after everyone else had made their choice because she could be sure that no-one else would be looking for the same things she was.
She felt that most breeders paid too little attention to the importance of the bitch line. She certainly had some very beautiful bitches which proved superb breeders - bitches such as Merle, Modena, Maria, and Melissa. She felt that puppies in the nest should look like little toads - as broad as they were high and with most of their width across the rear. I remember Sulhamstead Major at three months of age and he looked just like a lion cub. He had a gorgeous litter sister, Sulhamstead Mini, who sadly died very early (at around six months, if my memory serves).
We shall none of us see the like of Mrs. Nagle again, but her achievements in so many fields must surely keep her memory alive for many years to come. Her choice for the title of a book about her life was Mission Accomplished. How many of us could say as much?
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